She stopped her pacing and faced him with hands planted on her hips. “What do you think?”

“Your departure from Ireland?” The thought of her leaving him was ripping his heart into pieces, but he tried to maintain a passive expression.

“Sure, that’s a start,” she said. “I’m not going to pretend that I’m excited about it. I’m scared, actually.”

“There’s nothing to be scared of,” he said, pulling away from the wall, drawing her into his arms. The fear in her eyes gutted him as he squeezed her tight. He nuzzled her hair and inhaled deeply. What he wouldn’t give for more time to embrace her tenderly... But time was escaping them, surely she understood that. “When you get started, you’ll get to show them what you’re made of. If anyone can do this job, it’s you.”

She looked up with a frown. “I’m not... That’s not what worries me.”

He took a deep breath. What she was asking for was damn near impossible. Aiden tried to ignore how her body shook and focus on reality. People leave, and those who are left behind must move on and make the best of it. Antonia needed someone steady in her life, not a man who was still drifting, barely keeping himself afloat. “Darling, I don’t know what else to do but let you go.”

She pulled away from his grasp. “What are you saying?”

Aiden didn’t know where he was going with this conversation. Talking to his stonewalled father was infinitely easier than this. All he knew was that he cared for her. He cared enough to let her go and let her find her way. “Antonia, you have an interview.”

“I do.” She folded her arms across her chest. “But I could stay. I said that in the bar and you didn’t even sound interested. I’m not trying to beg, Aiden, but I need to know if I should stay.”

“I’d love for you to stay, but—”

“Then there’s no ‘but’ about it,” Antonia said, her voice climbing. “If you wanted me to stick around so we can figure out...us, I would.”

Aiden looked up at the night sky and sighed. She spoke from the heart, where he desperately wanted to follow, but he was stuck in his head. Everything she said made sense, he felt it everywhere in his being, and it made his skin itch not to touch her. An invisible rope pulled him to her warmth. The tremble of her bottom lip made his heart fall. She’s not your lighthouse, boyo. She’s not here to save you... “I want you to stay, darling. But it would be temporary, wouldn’t it? Holidays have to come to an end eventually, if not today, then two weeks from now. Where will we be then? My life, if you haven’t already noticed, is messy. The last thing I want is to drag you down with it.”

Antonia shook her head. “Why are you still making this about your father, Aiden?”